Texas Auto Insurance Minimum Coverage Requirements

The Texas auto insurance minimum coverage requirements were put in place to make sure that all drivers have some protection if they are involved in an accident. The minimum coverage requirements for auto insurance in TX are legal requirements for everyone who is on the road in that State. Educating yourself about these just makes sense, whether you live in Texas or elsewhere.

What Are The Texas Auto Insurance Minimum Coverage Requirements?

In Texas, drivers are required to have the following insurance coverage in place:

$20,000 in bodily injury coverage to pay for medical expenses incurred by a single individual injured in an accident where you are the at-fault driver

$40,000 in bodily injury coverage for multiple people injured in an accident where you are at fault. (The number of injured people doesn't matter.)

$15,000 in property damage coverage to pay for the cost of repairing the other driver's vehicle. This type of insurance will also pay for damage to road signs, mail boxes, fences, and sheds.

Texas Auto Insurance Minimum Coverage Requirements May Not Be Enough

These figures are simply the minimum amount of coverage that a driver must have in place. If you were involved in a serious accident, $20,000 in bodily injury liability insurance may not be enough to pay for the other person's medical bills. In this situation, your insurance company will pay out up to the policy limit (less the amount of your deductible) only. Any additional damages that you are responsible for will have to come out of your own pocket.

Additional Coverage May Be Necessary

Buying additional coverage over the minimum amounts required under Texas law makes good financial sense. It's a relatively inexpensive way to protect your hard-earned assets if you are responsible for an accident.

Consider for a moment what you own and how hard you worked to get those things. Next, think about how you would feel if you had to sell them off to pay for someone else's medical expenses. You know you are responsible for the damages, but wouldn't it be a lot better if you just take out a larger insurance policy? People may resent making those monthly premium payments but if an accident happens, they really do appreciate the fact that the coverage is in place.

As long as you are thinking about insurance anyway, why don't you ask your insurance company to give you a TX car insurance quote for coverage that will pay to repair your vehicle if it is damaged in an accident? Collision coverage pays for repairs to the vehicle, but only up to the Blue Book Value of the car.

If you are still making payments on your car, you may want to look at putting Gap insurance into place along with the Texas auto insurance minimum coverage requirements. This coverage will pay the difference between the Blue Book Value and the amount you owe on the vehicle if it is totaled in an accident. That way, you are not responsible for making payments on a vehicle you no longer own.

Lease Car Insurance in US States

If you are considering leasing a car you will still need to purchase your own auto insurance policy. When you lease, your vehicle belongs to the lease company. They want to make sure that their investment is covered if something happens to the car. They may also want you to have sufficient liability coverage in case you are at fault in causing an accident. This not only protects you from financial disaster, but it also protects the lease company from financial harm.

So whoever is financing your car will require you to buy both collision and comprehensive coverage for the vehicle. Collision covers damage to the car from an accident with another automobile or object and comprehensive is coverage for losses from something other than a collision with another car or object. They will generally want you to purchase: liability coverage $100,000 per person/$300,000 per occurrence, property liability coverage $50,000 and comprehensive and collision for actual value with no more than $500.00 deductible.

This may be more coverage than you would usually buy, so your insurance expense may be increased. In this case, you would benefit from shopping around to try to get a better rate. Insurance experts say you can nearly always get the higher level of insurance at about the same rate as you are currently paying by getting quotes from a few different insurance companies, seeking out discounts that you qualify for and adjusting your coverage.

In addition to the regular auto insurance, on a leased car, you will have to pay gap insurance. The "gap" is the difference between the amount you owe the leasing company and the amount the insurance company pays out if your car gets totaled. Cars depreciate in value quickly so when a car gets totaled there is usually a gap between the fair market value and the loan amount. The cost of gap insurance is generally rolled into the lease payments. You don't actually buy a gap policy. Generally, the auto dealer buys a master policy from an insurance company to cover all the cars it leases and charges you for a "gap waiver." This means that if your leased car is totaled, you won't have to pay the dealer the gap amount.